Molding Stone

Repeat Customers

Tig and Happy came back the next night and the night after that and so on every day the bar was open for two weeks before I had to put my foot down. The crowd that usually occupied the bar from five till close would vanish when they pulled up out front and the bar would be quiet till the next day. After the first week it became obvious that the bikers were making this a nightly thing and the regular crowd began to shrink drastically and it was cutting hard into my profits to have them hanging around nightly. I knew they weren't going to be happy with what I had in mind, but it needed to be done before the damage became permanent and put me out of business.

I poured the two bikers another round at midnight before cutting them off and printing the checks. Tig thought I didn't notice, but I saw him slipping Ace french fries when he thought I wasn't looking, but it was pretty obvious given how Ace practically sat on Tig's foot and drooled the whole time he was there. Plus the crumbs and drool left on the floor was a dead give away even if I hadn't seen Tig feeding him. I didn't mind Tig slipping Ace fries as long as he only gave him a few, but that was something else that would probably have to stop. I put the checks in front of them before leaning on the bar.

"Hey, we need to talk." I said bringing Tig and Happy's attention to me. I tried to keep my face neutral, but Happy seemed to know I wanted something from the way his eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" Tig asked when he looked up while Happy raised an eyebrow.

"Something needs to give. I appreciate that you guys seem to like coming here and that's great, but you're scaring away my customers. I know it amuses you guys that everyone practically runs away when you walk in, but if this goes on too much longer, I'm not going have any customers left and I'll have to put up the closed sign permanently." Happy shifted in his seat and gave me a hard look.

"You telling us not to come back?" He asked lowly.

"Not at all. All I'm asking is that you start parking your bikes out back when you're here in an unofficial capacity and that the leather come off at the door." The glare was still there, but it wasn't as harsh as it had been.

"The bikes are easy enough, but the kuttes are a deal breaker." Tig said as he went back to patting Ace's head.

"This kutte comes off when I die." Happy added lowly.

"Then consider this place heaven." I said glaring back, I wasn't going to back down from this, it was my livelihood at stake here and they needed to understand that.

"I've put my heart and soul into this bar and I'm not going to let myself go out of business because of two bikers."

"What makes you think that taking the kuttes off will stop scaring off your customers? People still know we're with the club. What difference would it make?" Tig asked, serious for the first time since he'd set eyes on Ace that first night.

"The kutte says your here on business. It declares who you are and why you're here. If you're in here without a kutte people don't think bullets will start flying at any second and it will definitely take them a moment to realize who you are without the kutte. That's the difference and hopefully they'll already have a drink in their hand by the time they recognize you. I think it's pretty reasonable. No bikes out front brings people in and no kuttes inside lets people stay and that means the bar stays open. I'll even make an exception about the kuttes when you guys come in with the club for negotiations." Tig looked to Happy who didn't look like he was budging.

"What if we say no?" Tig asked cautiously. I shrugged, knowing I could live with my back up plan if they decided they weren't going to play by my rules.

"I guess you're gonna miss Ace and I." I gave him a smile knowing I'd hit him where it hurts. He loved Ace, Ace was the whole reason he started coming back. I knew if they decided not to come back that Ace would miss Tig, but he'd get over it eventually.